Higher interest rates are seen in USDA’s latest Farm Service Agency loans. For May 2022, the interest rate for direct farm operating loans has gone from 1.75 percent a year ago to 2.875. The direct farm ownership loan rate is 3.375 percent compared to 3.25 percent in May 2021. Interest rates for FSA emergency loans were at 2.75 percent last year and are now at 3.75 percent. USDA says these […]
Supply chain disruptions and inflation are challenging food relief efforts. Vince Hall, chief government relations officer with Feeding America, discusses some of the barriers facing food banks. Healthy Living: Click here for more information. ...
A central Iowa farmer says steady rains have eliminated drought concerns for now. Lee Tesdell tells Brownfield, “I would say our subsoil moisture is completely replenished now.” Tesdell farms in northern Polk County. He says drought was an issue last summer, but conditions changed for the better. “With the creek out of its banks, obviously the tiles are running pretty strong right now,” Tesdell said. “They are buried in the […]
An ag economist expects net farm incomes to tighten if the Federal Reserve opts to raise the interest rate this week. Ernie Goss with Creighton University tells Brownfield cost of production is high from skyrocketing input costs. “I will call it unsustainable paces. On the flip side, their revenues have also been growing. At this point and time, at least according to the bankers, the revenues for the farmers have […]
Mother Nature has brought much needed relief from severe drought for producers in a Western Corn Belt state. Central Nebraska farmer Clay Govier says 4 inches of rain have fallen since Saturday and that’s been the first measurable moisture since October.“ I don’t know if it’s going to necessarily solve all of our problems, but it certainly has brought a lot of hope to farmers and other producers in the […]
Across the Corn Belt, a widespread rain event—stretching from Iowa into the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes region—is bringing renewed planting delays. Although dry weather has returned across the far upper Midwest, many fields remain too cool and wet for widespread planting. U.S. corn planting, 14% complete by May 1, last got off to a slower start in 2013, when only 8% of the crop had been seeded on […]
During the next few days, back-to-back storm systems will cross the nation from west to east. The initial storm, currently centered over the middle Mississippi Valley, will reach the Northeast by mid-week. The trailing system should reach the middle Mississippi Valley early Friday, before crossing the middle Atlantic Coast on Saturday. Five-day rainfall could total 1 to 3 inches or more from the eastern Plains into the southern Corn Belt […]
Avian influenza continues to affect Wisconsin poultry producers. The Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection says the state is now up to 12 affected premises, with four of them larger-scale farms. Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, four new premises were affected with two in Barron County, one in Oconto County, and one in Fond du Lac County. One of the new Barron County sites is a commercial farm with […]
Diesel fuel can be added to the list of input costs reaching record-highs for farmers. GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan tells Brownfield the national average reached $5.32 per gallon Monday. “The average price in Iowa has jumped from about $4.85 to $5.23 a gallon in the last week alone,” he said. De Haan says an inventory shortage is fueling the rapid price surge. “Inventories have plummeted to their lowest levels since […]
